The purpose of this research is to investigate the formation, functioning and effectiveness of self-help groups in responding to traumatic experiences and psychological problems of family life in urban areas. Because diversity of discipline is considered by the members of our research team to be of utmost importance, we have combined several methods of investigation. On one hand, our examination of self-help groups presupposes a model of evaluation or outcome research. However, we also feel the need to study self-help groups from an organizational perspective as community organizations developing from local chapters into national organizations. Self-help groups involve many service delivery systems and social policy issues that professional service systems address, and so we have included this perspective, as well as an action anthropology model which affords us the opportunity to develop collaborative partnerships with the self-help groups being studied. After scanning a variety of self-help groups in the Chicago area, we chose three groups for intensive study: Naim, a Catholic, Chicago-based organization for widows or widowers; Compassionate Friends, an organization for parents who have lost a child; and Helpline, an organization, which grew out of the Lamaze program, for new mothers. We have conducted extensive observations and interviews with these groups during the past eight months and are now developing survey questionnaires, which will examine issues of recruitment, benefit, and outcome, for fielding this summer. Future plans include the addition of three more self-help systems for intensive study; the convening of a Self-Help Coordinating Council; and a sub-study investigating how these groups work to change or normalized behavior and attitudes.